Forexpros – The U.S. dollar rose to a four-day high against the yen on Monday, as a brighter global economic outlook and disappointing data on Japanese manufacturing activity weighed on demand for the yen.
USD/JPY hit 83.30 during early European trade, the pair’s highest since March 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 82.99, adding 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 82.60, the low of March 28 and resistance at 83.46, the high of March 22.
Demand for the safe haven yen weakened after government data on Sunday showed that China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to an 11-month high of 53.1 in March, up from a reading of 51.0 the previous month and beating analysts’ forecasts.
The data eased concerns over the possibility of a slowdown in the world’s largest economy, but investors remained cautious ahead of manufacturing data from the U.K. and the U.S. later in the day.
Meanwhile, official data showed that Japan’s Tankan manufacturing index remained unchanged at minus 4 in the last quarter, disappointing expectations for a rise to minus 1.
The report also showed that the Tankan non-manufacturing index rose to 5, in line with expectations, from a reading of 4 in the fourth quarter.
The data fueled new speculations that the Bank of Japan may conduct additional monetary easing in order to boost the economy.
The yen was also lower against the euro with EUR/JPY rising 0.18%, to hit 110.75.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report by the Institute of Supply Management on manufacturing activity.
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